Move Outlook E-mails to new computer (Outlook 2K SP3 on WinXP)

I am moving from an older machine (Win2K) to a new machine (WinXP). Both will have the same MS Office Professional 2K. I would like to move the e-mails in Outlook from the old machine intact to the new machine. I tried using PC Relocator over a home network , but all that did was create an error message that ".....SBCMSYNC.dll is not a valid office addin." Without the search function at Woody's Lounge in operation, I regret that I must ask what must be a common question again. (And Woody, I did not find the answer in your "Special Edition Using MS Office 2000") This is the last "moving problem" I must solve before turning the old machine into a Linux box as after 18+ years of dealing with Microsoft Word / Office I feel its time to experiment with something else. Thus, the request for help.

Re: Move Outlook E-mails to new computer (Outlook 2K SP3 on WinXP)

To get Contacts, Calendar, and all that fun stuff, copy your entire PST over, or for only e-mails, archive just your e-mails folders into a PST and copy that over. Then you add the PST as an information store via File, Open, Personal Folders, then either drag and drop everything you want to whichever new Folder you wish, or make the old folder your new default folder and remove the PST that Outlook creates when it starts the first time. (I can say this a lot fancier, but that's how I do it.)

Re: Move Outlook E-mails to new computer (Outlook 2K SP3 on WinXP)

John's answer is correct, unless you have your email set to leave the info on your server.

This may only be applicable in an office environment, but I set all PCs at work to keep all info on the server. This means that, not only can I backup all data without complications, but more to the point, when I swap PCs the user has immediate access to all their Outlook stuff with minimum effort on my behalf.

Re: Move Outlook E-mails to new computer (Outlook 2K SP3 on WinXP)

Thanks GW, for the reminder that some folks keep everything on the server. My company makes us keep everything in a separate PST, but the PST must be on the server so it can be backed up. Which in the end can't be any different in terms of server space demand, since a PST doesn't seem to be very compressed (or is it?).

Re: Move Outlook E-mails to new computer (Outlook 2K SP3 on WinXP)

At a guess I would say it is far easier to restore a single PST file than to try to recover a single mailbox. I know we've had problems in this area in the early days of email but have since solved it.

As for me, I always look for the easiest solution that works, I call that working smart but could be I'm just lazy. <img src=/S/wink.gif border=0 alt=wink width=15 height=15> <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>